Andrei Bezukhov's request, Charles did not just casually agree and forget it, when he came to the ministry the next day, he directly summoned his secretary to the office.

"I want to figure out one thing."

"Sir, if it's business, I've sorted it out, and you can handle it according to the urgency." The secretary thought he was trying to be lazy, so he suggested to him, "In our case, the ambassadors' reports are the most important, you can review them first, and I can handle the rest for you." ”

"Thanks, but it's okay, when I was at the Ministry of Railways and the War Department, I handled more things every day, which is nothing." Charles waved his hand, "What I want to ask you is another business question. ”

"Excuse me." The secretary blinked, obviously surprised.

"We can issue passports to nationals, right?" Charles deliberately lowered his voice, "So do I have the authority to sign it?" ”

"Of course you have." The secretary looked at Charles with a puzzled expression, "Our subordinate departments can issue passports to nationals who need to go abroad, and you, as their boss, certainly have more authority to do so." ”

"Oh, I see." Charles nodded, then lowered his voice, "So, can I issue French passports to foreign citizens?" ”

Because this was really a bit terrifying, the secretary's eyes couldn't help but widen. "Sir, you ...... How can you issue a French passport to a foreigner? ”

"Can't I?" Charles didn't seem to be intimidated by his objections, "So is it theoretically impossible, or is it practically impossible?" ”

"Sir...... ......"Maybe it's because I don't know how to persuade Charles." The secretary was a little hesitant, "Sir...... Don't do that. This would lead to diplomatic disputes, and it would benefit no one. ”

That is to say. I can actually do it, but it might be controversial? Charles seemed to understand.

"Yes...... Indeed it is, sir. The secretary hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded rudly, "This will cause you trouble, so, in order to avoid trouble, you ...... Don't do this kind of thing. ”

In this day and age, as Charles thought. There is no household register in every country, no powerful computer system that can store the information of every citizen, not even photographic technology, so it is not difficult for him to issue French passports to people from other countries. It can even be said that it is very simple, as long as the person with the passport does not take the initiative to report it, then he can play the French with peace of mind.

With a French passport, the foreigner can use his new identity to move freely in his country. Then he left his country and went somewhere else, like France.

In other words, Count Bezukhov took the line of the Charr, and basically could use this method to send anyone he wanted to rescue out of Russia. without taking much of a risk.

"I see, thank you for the reminder." Charles had figured it out, "Arrange it this afternoon." Call the person in charge to me, I may need him to issue a few passports for me. ”

"Issuing passports? To whom? The secretary was shocked.

"If nothing else. Probably to a couple of Russians. Charles replied gently, as if he didn't think anything was wrong. However, when the passports arrived in their hands, they were probably French. ”

"Sir!" The secretary's face was a little anxious, "I suggest you don't do this kind of thing...... This kind of thing is harmful to you and not to the country. ”

In his anxious persuasion, Charles's face slowly changed.

"You mean, I need you to explain to me what's good for the country?"

"No...... Sir, that's not what I meant......" The secretary panicked.

After all, the official level crushed people, and he didn't have much room to argue with Charles.

"I don't think you have either." Charles sneered, "I, now I can define what is called national interest. So, now, I ask you to do what I command, and if you feel that you cannot do it, then you can choose to refuse, and I can go to someone who is willing to do it. ”

Yes, he did intend to do Count Bezukhov, whom he had not yet met, a favor, not only because he could get bribes, but, more importantly, according to Andrei, his father wanted to shelter a few people who opposed the Russian government, which should have been the case, otherwise he would not have paid such a high price.

Now that he has decided that he wants to deal with the Russians, it is not a bad thing to have so many "like-minded" friends.

He is not afraid of the matter being exposed, anyway, this kind of thing can be denied outright, but if it is really not possible, he can push the matter above the "work mistakes of the relevant departments", and anyway, the Russians have no way to run to Paris to do something to him.

Seeing Charles' reprimand so severely, the secretary's spirit instantly relaxed, and as a government official, he really did not have the courage to stand up to Mr. Tréville.

"Sir, I would like to ...... I think you are right when you say that you can define the national interest, or you can act in accordance with the national interest. His tone quickly softened, "However, I request that when I and the others are ordered to do so, I need to file it in the ministry's files, so that we can have a record of it later." ”

"Yes." Charles understood that this was the secretary's last resort to save himself, and he was afraid that if the incident happened, Charles would put the blame on them.

"Yes, sir, I'll do it for you in the afternoon." The secretary calmed down and finally regained his composure. "By the way, sir, Your Excellency's secretary informed me in the morning and told you to take time to meet him in the morning."

Charles was stunned for a moment, then immediately came back to his senses. He probably knew why the other party called him.

"Okay, I see, you go down."

After the secretary left, Charles flipped through the official letters sent to him by the ambassadors, then got up and left the office. Went to the office of His Excellency the Minister.

"Oh, Charles. Have a seat! "The old Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marquis de Turgo, after seeing the Charles. He nodded with a smile on his face.

When Charles sat down, he slowly lit himself a cigar. "Charles, you've been giving me a problem lately."

"I'm ashamed, but what did I do to make you miserable?" Charles looked at the other party suspiciously, "Please tell me, and I'll try to correct it." ”

"You recently met with the Russian ambassador at your home, didn't you?" The minister looked at him with some seriousness, "I heard that you also quarreled with him, which made him angry?" ”

"We do disagree on some issues, sir." Charles replied cautiously. "It's a shame admittedly."

"Charles, in diplomatic circles, you can have disagreements with others, it's a common thing." The minister took a deep puff on his cigar, "But even if there are disagreements, you should talk and laugh with others, not quarrel." If you can't do that, it will hurt your reputation in the diplomatic community and will frustrate France's diplomatic career. ”

Charles frowned slightly. The minister's image of the old being a lesson to the young made him a little displeased, though it was true from a certain point of view.

"As far as I know, the Russians are only afraid of power, and do not care about etiquette. If we want to be respected by them. Then we have to be tough and show that we deserve their respect. If we want to deal with the Russians, then we must not show weakness. So. I treated the Russian ambassador according to the Russian rules, and I don't think it will hurt the diplomatic cause of France."

Because Charles's answer was not polite. It can even be said that there is some implicit arrogance, so the minister frowned slightly displeased. But he did not wish to express such displeasure. So he reached out and stroked his gray beard, and in this way, he secretly vented his anger.

"You've just come up and you're falling out with a big country, which isn't a good thing for your job." He sighed softly, "Charles, I understand your thoughts, but diplomacy is an art that has lasted for centuries, and it has its own rules and regulations. ”

"I admit that etiquette and rules are a good thing, but we also use them on occasions, and we can't always speak softly to others, which will make people underestimate Lancey's strength and determination," Charles first expressed his position, then smiled slightly, and took the initiative to back down a little, "However, I think you are more senior than me, and you are far more familiar with foreign affairs than I am, I will listen to your opinion, and I will be more polite to the Russians in the future." ”

"That's right, Charles." Because of the step, His Excellency Minister's face finally looked better. "After all, you have lived decades less than me, and there is always something to learn. I'm happy to teach you everything I know, just be patient - the ambassadors everywhere now think we're at odds, so it's not good to be told now, Charles. ”

And so it was.

Charles had already guessed that the Marquis of Turgo was very dissatisfied with Charles's private contact with the ambassadors to set up their own set of things, and felt that Charles was infringing on his rights by doing so, so this time he deliberately wanted to use the matter of the Russian ambassador to beat Charles, and then use this to extend to the issue of Charles acting on his own. How did he know that Charles actually replied to him so strongly, so when he made accusations now, he inevitably looked a little weak, not like an attack.

"Your Excellency, I am very happy to learn from you, and I have absolutely no quarrel with you, let alone the idea of going your own way behind your back." Charles looked at the other party suddenly, "I don't know why you said that the ambassadors had this misunderstanding, this is completely a false accusation, I only came to the ambassadors to understand the French diplomatic career better." If I had been ignorant of the realities of Europe, I would have a higher chance of making a mistake and would have hurt France's diplomatic career even more, don't you say? ”

Such a neat excuse made the Marquis of Turgo really angry, his face suddenly became estrus, and the hand holding the cigar became tighter and tighter.

But, after all, he was a diplomat for many years, so he put up with it. "This is an unfortunate misunderstanding, but it is true that there are people who secretly say that you have to do your own thing, and that you have to take a radical line, and I don't mean that there are conservative advantages to radical, Charles, conservative methods, and radical methods also have radical benefits, and sometimes being bold can work wonders. But the Charr ...... A country can only have one diplomatic line, otherwise they will fall into confusion and then achieve nothing. I hope you will be able to heed this advice. ”

"Thank you for your criticism, Your Excellency." Seeing that the other party no longer concealed it, Charles also became serious, "I said, I don't intend to interfere with your diplomatic line, I am just implementing some of my own diplomatic ideas, which are complementary to your line, not contradictory, and as far as the current situation is concerned, I think I am doing a good job now." ”

"It is not a supplement that provokes the outside world to whisper and the Russian ambassador to be furious. On the contrary, it will take some effort on my part to make up for it. The Marquis threw the cigar into the ashtray, "Besides, if you do it yourself, who knows what the other countries think?" I don't think they'll be happy either. ”

"As it happens, I think I have something to prove what other countries think......" Charles muttered deliberately, then pulled a letter out of his pocket. I received this today, and I'd like to ask you to take a look at it. ”

"What?" The Marquis of Turgo took the letter from his hand with a puzzled expression, and then was speechless for a moment in astonishment, and even his face trembled slightly.

This is a diplomatic report sent by the French ambassador to Austria, Count de Elomont.

According to the report, Emperor Franz-Joseph was preparing to invite the de Trevilles to visit Austria, and that the official invitation would soon come to Paris.

After a moment, the Marquis looked at Charles again in disbelief, as if he didn't understand what he had done.

"Yes, it's embarrassing, I've just come back from England and I've been pushed around by the Austrians, and I'm a little tired." Charles smiled bitterly, "But I think this means that I am more popular with European countries, right?" Although the Russian minister did not like me very much, the British and Austrians still had a good opinion of me. ”

At the urging of the Trévilles, the ambassador to Austria quickly got the invitation.

However, Emperor Franz-Joseph did this, of course, not only because of the face of Count de Elomont, but also because he probably got the information that Charles had specially revealed from the ambassador to Britain, so he wanted to get a glimpse of France and the British.

In any case, this invitation had already refuted the Marquis's accusation that he was "unpopular with the nations of Europe".

For now, at least, he couldn't afford to beat the Charles anymore.

"Alright, Charles." The Marquis was stunned for a moment, and finally waved his hand, "Do what you want." (To be continued.) )